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A Day at the Zoo
A Day at the Zoo is a 1939 Merrie Melodies short directed by Tex Avery. Plot A series of gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, and topical references, is presented as a narrator (Robert C. Bruce) describes a "tour" of the "Kalama Zoo" where the animals have nonsensical names, display anthropomorphic behavior, or illustrate punly gags. * Some animals are in their "natural settings": a wolf at someone's door; "a pack of camels" smoking cigarettes (underscored by "The Campbells Are Coming"); a North American Greyhound (a moving Greyhound bus underscored by "California, Here I Come"); "two bucks and five scents" (two deer and five skunks); and "two friendly Elks" (conventioneers named "Bill" greeting each other). * The monkey house includes monkeys tossing peanuts to zoo patrons; a baboon and a man who looks like the baboon, who end up trading places; and a Capuchin yelling at the top of its lungs, to a lady who tries to feed him some peanuts in defiance of the "Do Not Feed the Animals" sign: "Hey, sister, can'cha read?" * A ground-hog sic, along with its shadow in a separate cage, both pacing in sync. * A skunk cage is a "scenter of interest" with the observers keeping a safe distance; the skunk is reading How to Win Friends and Influence People. * A giraffe is being fed to the tune of the bugle "Mess Call"; the food chunks roll down its throat and into its stomach with the sound effects of junk crashing loudly. * White rabbits are "multiplying" - operating adding machines. * The bird house includes a "wise old owl", who seems reluctant to accept the label; a parrot who talks like a street tough and wants a beer instead of a cracker; and an "Alcatraz jail-bird", with a voice like Edward G. Robinson claims innocence, "I didn't do it, I tell ya!" In the cage next door, the "stool pigeon", in a somewhat effeminate voice, retorts, "Oh, he did so do it; I saw him with my very own eyes; so there!' * A mother ostrich on her nest, clucking like a chicken, stumbles and breaks her large egg, which contains a dozen chicken eggs, and the narrator comments, "Well! A jackpot!" * A newly arrived elephant is missing its proboscis, and after calling the express office on the phone, he says, "Ya know, those guys have had my twunk fow a week!" * Some winged pink elephants are "left over from that last New Year's Eve party!" * A pair of panthers is pacing in their cage, saying, "bread and butter", every time they pass a post. * A retired lion tamer, J. Wellington Buttonhook, who used to put his head in a lion's mouth as part of his act, puts down the paper he's reading, revealing he's headless. * A Rocky Mountain wildcat is jumping around and acting crazy. The narrator asks, "What made you wild?", and the cat responds, "They called my name out at Bank Night and I wasn't there!", and resumes his crazy antics. * A running gag features Egghead teasing a ferocious lion, with the narrator repeatedly warning him to stop. The first time, the narrator tells him, "Shame, shame. You're a bad boy." Egghead slinks away, involving Lou Costello's catch phrase, "I'm a baaad boy!" (starting from the second time), but keeps returning. Finally, the lion is alone, and the narrator comments that Egghead has learned his lesson. The lion slowly shakes his head, smiles, and opens his mouth. The eyes of Egghead appear from within the lion's stomach, and Egghead's voice echoes forth, "I'm a baaad boy!" Availability * (1992) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 8: The Evolution of Egghead * (2004) DVD - Cartoon Craze, Vol. 14, Presents: Bugs Bunny: Falling Hare (Digiview Productions) (aap print) Censorship * When this cartoon aired on Cartoon Network (as well as Boomerang and TNT), the brief shot of camels smoking cigarettes was cut. Notes * The final scene would be alluded to a decade later in "Hare Do", in which Elmer Fudd (who evolved from Egghead) is swallowed up by a lion as part of the closing gag. This cartoon was one of Egghead's final appearances, along with 1939's "Believe It or Else", a parody of Ripley's Believe It or Not! Gallery Day at the Zoo.jpg|Title card (Before Remastering) Day-at-the-zoo.jpg Adayathezoo.jpg Mid-A Day At The Zoo (1939).ogv.jpg a pack of camels.jpg|Smoking camels visual pun (scene edited on Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and TNT) 9.jpg can't ya read!.jpg skunk read.jpg joe jumbo.jpg lion ate egghead.jpg That's All Folks by Steve Schneider p44.jpg 032-010donotfeed.jpg|"HEY SISTER!!! CAN'T YA READ???" Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 14.11.00.png Screen Shot 2013-01-01 at 20.11.59.png Screen Shot 2013-01-01 at 19.14.41.png 032-019jailbird.jpg FTW-2015-07-18-17h37m33s974.png 032-007twobills.jpg|Hello Bill! Hello Bill! Category:Egghead Cartoons Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Cartoons directed by Tex Avery Category:Shorts Category:1939 Category:Blue Ribbon reissues Category:Public domain films Category:Cartoons written by Melvin Millar Category:Spot Gag Cartoons Category:Cartoons animated by Rollin Hamilton Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Art Loomer Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package Category:Cartoons with missing Leon Schlesinger credits Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist